Pro-Life Rally Takes Over Halifax Mall in Downtown Raleigh, N.C.

Pro-life group North Carolina Right to Life hosted its annual Rally and March for Life event Saturday in the Halifax Mall area of Downtown Raleigh. It was difficult to ascertain a precise count of attendees but there appeared to be at least several hundred people of all ages and skin tones. Admittedly, even as a pro-lifer myself, I was somewhat surprised at how diverse the crowd of marchers was. I honestly expected to see the crowd skew heavily white and old but that was not the case. In fact, would go so far as to say that a majority were people under the age of 40.

The event featured several speakers including NC Right to Life Director Barbara Holt, Dr. George Delgado, NC House District 13 Representative Pat McElraft (R), NC State District 31 Senator Joyce Krawlec (R) and Clair Williams who sits on NC Right to Life’s Board of Directors as well as music from Christian artist Dana Catherine.Dr. Delgado who in addition to his Pro-Life advocacy is known for his work in reversing the effects of medically induced abortions spoke for a few minutes about abortion pills, abortion reversal, and Planned Parenthood’s targeting of minorities. Dr. Delgado’s speech was a case of bad news and good news, with the bad news being the rise in popularity of medically induced abortions as Dr. Delgado informed the crowd that “Nowadays in the United States between 35 and 55 percent of all abortions are medical abortions; a woman taking a pill”. The good news is that according to Dr. Delgado, when women are given the hormone Progesterone after taking the abortion medication, there is a 64 to 68 percent chance of the pregnancy going forward as normal, i.e. the baby’s life being saved.

Representative McElraft took the stage next and gave a very emotional speech describing how she encountered the corpses of unborn babies during her practical examination at Onslow Memorial hospital: “I went into the Pathology office during my break, and we’d just come into North Carolina for the first time, we were learning about pig-pickin. And I looked around and (saw) all these little, big buckets and I went “what are all those little pigs doing in here?” He said, “look again Pat, those are the weekend’s abortions.” They were perfectly formed, little human babies. When I worked in the lab we would have them, saline abortion was the abortion mode at that time, we would have them come in with their little-burned bodies, still alive, suffering, doing blood gasses on them trying to keep them alive. “

State Senator Krawlec spoke next, focusing on the importance of being willing to obey God’s call to serve him, in politics as well as life, and provided an update on the Dismemberment Abortion Ban that will be re-introduced in the state legislature this year.

College student, Pro-life activist, and NC Right to Life Board member Clair Williams was the final speaker. She spoke briefly about her journey to becoming a Pro-Life activist and her experiences at the NC Right To Life sponsored training camp known as Camp Joshua.

The rally was immediately followed by the March for Life. Several downtown Raleigh streets in the vicinity of the General Assembly and the Governor’s Mansion were blocked off for the march. This was the very definition of a peaceful protest, with the hundreds of Pro-Life marchers calmly walking along the route carrying signs saying “Stop Abortion Now!” among other things, with occasional chants of “We Are Pro-Life!” and “We Are The Pro-Life Generation”. Approximately 50 pro-abortion protesters, stood on the sidewalk adjacent to the march. One apparently irony-immune protester held up an “abortion is a social good” sign right over his child’s stroller. A male protester also mindlessly joined in with pro-abortion crowd’s “My Body, My Choice” chant despite the fact that as a male, he is biologically incapable of carrying a child.

Then again biology has always been a bit of blind spot for the pro-abortion movement, hasn’t it?